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A Relaxing Double Century And A Little Humor In The Office

Yesterday I turned on the news only to be caught up in the breaking story of a JetBlue plane about to land at LAX with no front landing gear. The plan had circled the airport for hours, dumping fuel. As the plane approached the runaway, I had to question whether I really wanted to watch this unfold live. What’s the motivation? In the end, the pilot ever so gently guided the plane down and it was a very happy ending.

There is little to say about work other than there is a lot. Healix is scheduled to go live next week but now that hurricane Rita is heading right at Houston they may be delayed again. GroupHealth has started their training this week and should be live in the next couple. Still dealing with some aftermath of recent sales, most are minor but all require time. And our latest “big” client, the one we cannot mention, is ever so slowing moving forward. We lost our second project manager for the account in the span of a few months. Needless to say, it’s been a little difficult getting things done with them.

After riding into a few flats last week and running out of tubes and CO2 cartridges, you would think that I learned my lesson about riding prepared. Not so. The lesson has to be really painful before it hits home. So last week I left for a 15-mile on my lunch hour but left without my pump. I had no one to blame but myself when a couple miles from the office my rear tire went flat. I used the walk to let the lesson sink home.

Saturday I rode the Knoxville Double Century. I took it easy and really tried to enjoy the ride and I did. Rode from Vacaville over to Napa and up along the valley to Lake Berryesea and then into Lower Lake for lunch. After lunch it was pretty much the reverse except on different roads. It felt like no matter which direction I was riding, I was always heading into the wind. I rode the bike on a borrowed rear wheel after learning mine had numerous cracks. For months the Trek has been making a clicking noise when pedaling hard and I assumed it needed a new lower bracket. So I finally took it in and right away the bike mechanic said the problem is your wheel. So they provided me with a loaner as they research the warranty status on the wheel. Other than that, I have enjoyed the Trek and have already put more than 4500 miles on it.

Saturday’s ride meant that I missed Mark Messmer’s memorial service but Nicole went with her parents.

On Monday I sent an email to lighten the mood except that it seemed to be intrepreted a little to seriously. Here it is:

Every now and then we stumble across an idea that seems to hit us in the face. We stop and look around and wonder how nobody else has come up with such an obvious solution. For months we’ve been working behind the scenes and in total secrecy with some of the engineers from GM. In order to avoid tipping off the competition we haven’t been able to share some of the excitement and details, but now that we are about to release this feature it is about time we let you know.

Ascend-HI and Ascend-IP are now offering OnStar as part of the standard program. The OnStar feature will be included as part of the first year license agreement for all new users. Existing clients can subscribe for only $14.95/month. If you haven’t experienced the power of OnStar, you will soon be a believer. Both programs will include an OnStar button on the login screen and on the main profile screens. You can see the new buttons by downloading the latest beta version posted this evening. Clicking the OnStar button will immediately link them to a OnStar support technician that can help troubleshoot their problem. For example, if a user has forgotten their password, they can click the OnStar button to be logged into the program. We have even added code so if the software crashes, an OnStar technician will immediately contact the user (requires OnStar.DLL and internet connection) to make sure everything is ok. If a serious crash has occurred, the OnStar technician will call our emergency line and wait on the line until the HOS support technician arrives. We tested this with Healix on Sunday and they loved it. Feel free to download the latest beta version and try it. VERY IMPORTANT: Please make sure that you are in “debug” mode so the OnStar technicians will know that you are simply testing and there is no emergency.

I thought it was pretty good but it’s not good form to laugh at your own joke.

Nicole is becoming more comfortable on the bike. On Suuday we took RoughGo in Annadel and she handled the trail like a champ although she didn’t understand why anybody would enjoy riding over rocks. Hopefully she won’t give up.